VAN GERWIN
Dutch star will take some flooring... just ask Phil The Power!
CLOG almighty Michael van Gerwen has spilled the beans on the night he decked Phil Taylor – and it will take something special to floor MVG at Ally Pally.
Do not worry, one of the greatest darts rivalries this century did not boil over into Queensberry Rules.
The ‘Power’ and his Dutch foe were only larking about backstage at the Grand Slam.
But with big guns falling by the wayside at the Paddy Power PDC World Championship – Gerwyn Price on Thursday night, reigning champion Michael Smith (below) 24 hours later – Van Gerwen looks like the biggest beast left in the field.
And he warned: “It’s going to take something special to stop me – but I don’t see that happening.”
To his eternal regret, Van Gerwen never beat 16-times champion Taylor at Alexandra Palace.
So he will have to settle for fond memories of their playground tussle back in the day at the Grand Slam of Darts.
He said: “It was about eight or nine years ago at the old venue in Wolverhampton, the old Civic Hall. There was a little staircase back towards the bar, and as he came back he was talking about his friend Ricky Hatton... blah, blah, blah.
“He was doing the little boxing moves, shadow boxing, like he always did. I took him in a sort of headlock and before I knew it, he was on the floor next to me.
“That’s how it happened – it was quite funny, but I was more shocked: Did I really do that?
Who would win in a boxing match? Not even a question. But it was all good-natured.
“Me and Phil, of course, we had our little things – but we never had a problem together.
“We had a little rivalry, a little saying about each other and we both accepted how it was.
“Above all, we have both got a great respect for each other, 100 per cent in the right way. Of course, sometimes he gave it to me a little bit, I gave it back to him, but never in a nasty way.”
“The greatest darts player? Phil Taylor. But the greatest and the best are two different subjects. The best? Why are people laughing? Me, I’m the best.
“A lot of people lost hundreds of times to him. He had them in his pocket. But he never had me under control.” Ahead of the World Championship, on stage at the PDC’S Night with the Champions theatre show in Leicester Square, Taylor tipped Van Gerwen to win his fourth title at Ally Pally after a five-year hiatus.
So far, his tip has looked spoton and MVG said: “I am sharp now at the moment – maybe I am not playing my AA game yet, but there has to be someone really good to beat me at this tournament and I don’t think it will happen.”
Van Gerwen has yet to drop a set in the competition – and even Stephen Bunting, who was in the form of his life, was powerless to stop the juggernaut in a 4-0 whitewash on Friday night.
MVG added: “I want to keep it that way – not dropping a set. To stop me will take someone who plays really good darts or me making a lot of mistakes.”